Day 1: Tuesday Cooking Show

November 1, 2011

Welcome to the NaBloPoMo madness my dears, lets dive right in.

So last night, I had this idea of something I wanted to make. Based in part on this recipe called Pasta with Butternut Parmesan Sauce, I decided I wanted to sub in Pumpkin, cause I had some on hand, add in some sausage, mushrooms and switch out the cream for the slightly lighter coconut milk. So this is the recipe I ended up with

Pumpkin Mushroom Sausage Pasta (it tastes so much better than it looks!)

1 pkg pasta (I used rigatoni, but vaguely round-shape of pasta would work)
1/2 to 3/4 lbs of mushrooms, roughly sliced (I used the cheapest kind I could find at the grocery store and they were yummy)
1/2 onion, diced
3-5 cloves of garlic, minced
4 links of chicken sausage (I used Trader Joe’s Garlic & Herb, but feel free to use whatever, or skip if you are going meatless)
1 can of pumpkin puree (28oz or the big one)
1 can of coconut milk
1/4 c parmesan cheese, grated (with more for serving)
salt and pepper to taste
And SECRET INGREDIENT (1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice)

1. Chop the mushrooms, onion and garlic and saute.
2. Slice sausage and add to mixture and don’t forget to start your water for the pasta and once it boils add the pasta.
3. After the mushrooms and sausage are cooked, add the pumpkin and saute for 1 minute.
4. Add the coconut milk and stir well.
5. Add parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and SECRET INGREDIENT (pumpkin pie spice).
6. After pasta has cooked to al dente, drain it and then add to the pumpkin sauce. Stir well. Serve with parmesan cheese as garnish.

While my “cooking by the seat of my pants” aren’t always this successful, I have to say this one hit it out of the park. I liked how the coconut milk and pumpkin play so nicely together. The pumpkin pie spice adds just a bit of interesting flavor and seeing as I love mushrooms and sausage in almost any combination, I think they make this dish just smashing!

Also for those of you who love leftovers for lunch, be assured this tastes even better then next day, yum!